Chapter 4
Itachi blinked up at the blonde boy standing in front of him. Lately, they had gotten closer both in and outside the academy. Katsuki-san seemed to have no other friends except Itachi. He was a little guilty for being very pleased with this fact. It may be selfish of him, but Katsuki-san was his first friend, his only friend too, and out of all the people in the class who wanted to be his friend, he chose Itachi. His mother was pleased that he made a friend, Sasuke was upset that he didn't have time to spend with him as much as before, but he was only a baby.
That brings him back to this moment, Mother had asked him to invite his friend for lunch and father had agreed, he wanted to know if his new 'friend' was worth associating with. Itachi already knew that Father was lying, because Katsuki-san had an unknown Kekkei Genkai and everyone was already interested in him. Itachi was a little too smart for his age, he knew that this would not end well. Katsuki-san was.... loud. And angry. And impulsive. And aggressive. And he never filtered his thoughts. And he didn't care who he was talking to, Itachi had hoped that his friend would have some sort of tact but that option went out of the window as soon as he heard him talk to Orochimaru-sama for the first time.
There was little, very minute, tiniest part of Itachi that wanted to see Katsuki-san talk to his father like he did with everybody, no, this was not the only reason he was insistent on him accepting his offer, it wasn't.
"No, I don't wanna come to your house for lunch extra, drop it," as expected, he said looking down at him as if talking to a particularly disobedient cat.
"Kaa-san insists that you join us. Why not, anyway?" he pushed, rising from the ground to stand across from the other boy.
"I can't leave my imouto alone, my parents are out of town," it was such a pitiful excuse that even Itachi, with all his Uchiha genes, rolled his eyes. He knew they have a babysitter.
"And how do you come to train every day then?"
"..... Fine! One fucking lunch is all."
Itachi smiled in accomplishment, "You can bring your sister too, my Ototo is her age," he mentioned as they walked back from the training grounds to one of Orochimaru-sama's labs so they could pick the blonde's new 'sneakers'. He wondered where his friend thought of such a name. Maybe they're supposed to help in stealth? They didn't look very appropriate for the job though. He has learnt to just accept some of the other boy's habits.
Katsuki-san snorted, "Are you stupid? I'm not bringing Sakura to the same place where a hundred or so people who're probably even worse than you,"
Well, Itachi would be a little offended but then, he's not wrong. Most of the clan is closed off and collected all the time, and he can see that it may seem weird to strangers. It was a little weird in general too.
"Hn."
He waited for a second, two, three...
"I TOLD YOU DON'T MAKE THAT SOUND WHEN YOU'RE TALKING TO ME YOU FUCKING EXTRA!"
There.
Itachi could have his petty revenge too.
-----
Bakugou really was not looking forward to lunch in the Uchiha compound, somewhere in the back of his head he remembered Best Jeanist talking about 'making the most of a good connection' but Bakugou had never before relied on his, or anyone else's family name to reach to where he wanted.
There was a lot of political and family drama in the hero rankings and academies too but he reached the spot of the Number One with Deku as one of the first hero duo's all on his own merit. He wasn't gonna sap up to some hardass Uchiha to give him a better chance at making it to his dream.
Nope.
Not like he could anyway, according to Mina he doesn't have the 'talent of bootlicking.' She also said something about having the worst temper, though he can't remember for sure.
He would much rather spend time with Sakura anyway, she was such a cute child, not like the usual crying and snivelling toddlers.
"I'm home," he announced as he stepped into the house.
"NII-SAN!" an enthusiastic two-year-old shouted from the living room and Bakugou followed the noise, Sakura's babysitter, a middle-aged woman whose name he never bothered remembering shot him an annoyed look. She wasn't the biggest fan of him, not liking that 'cute, little Sakura-chan was becoming rowdy like those ninja boys' because of him. At least she genuinely adored Sakura, and was competent at her job, probably the only reason why their parents hadn't fired her. And why he hadn't blown her away from his little sister.
Can't she see Sakura is not going to be a 'delicate proper lady' already? His own sister. As if.
"Hello, Sakura," he said and sat in front of her where she was busy arranging her toys by the shades of their colours. The babysitter woman started packing her bag, checking the time he observed that it was already eight pm, he must've been out longer than he imagined. With a goodnight, the older woman left the two siblings alone.
"Wanna see my new sneakers?" he held up the box in front of her and she made excited noises, grabby hands reaching for the product. He smiled despite himself, is it legal to be so cute?
"WANNA!" she yelled, as loud as her elder brother. He unwrapped the paper covering and took out a black waterproof and fireproof shoe. It had small red flames near the bottom and Bakugou sighed in exasperation, Oreo seemed to have a weird habit of adding something related to his quirk in all of his gear.
He gave the shoe to Sakura who stared at it for a few seconds, brows furrowed in confusion as she tried to determine what that shoe's going to do, when it stayed perfectly the way it was initially she lost interest in it and threw it as far as she could with her little hands all the while yelling "DIEEEEEE!"
So cute.
Orochimaru would probably have a heart attack with the way his creation was being treated. Bakugou had struck an easy deal with the man, Orochimaru would make his support gear for free as long as he gave him new ideas. The snake had neglected to inform him that most of his research was funded by the village as compensation for the missions he took. And food, apparently, Class 1-A weren't the only ones who salivated at the smell of his cooking. Give the snake-man a few good meals a week and he was more than happy. And if Bakugou had made it a habit to make sure the man didn't die of sleep exhaustion, shh. He needed a reliable person to make his hero costume one day after all.
"No throwing sneakers 'Kura," he said and got up to retrieve his shoe. He was a little impressed by how far she threw it, all across the hallway. Hm, strong for her age. She mumbled something like 'sorry katsu-nii' and picked up one of her plushies to show him in apology.
Sakura and Bakugou both had early bedtimes, he was used to staying up for days on assignments but not in a seven-year-old body. And he generally preferred sleeping early when he can ever since he was the same age in his last life.
They sat together for some time, Sakura played and Bakugou indulged her, telling her all about his day at the academy and training while eating. Once the clock hits nine pm he set Sakura on her bed and set her 'cuddle buddy' beside her. It's a rabbit holding a Cherry blossom that he had bought from the Kyuubi festival last year. Sakura loved it very much, according to her he had 'pretty red eyes, like katsu-nii' and 'pretty pink flower, like my hair'. He wished her a good night and retired for the night. He had a lunch to attend tomorrow after all.
----
Orochimaru was in his lab working on creating an indestructible flak jacket for himself when he felt Sarutobi-sensei's chakra enter.
"Good evening, sensei," he said without looking up from his new piece, keeping the fire at the perfect temperature as it heats slowly.
"Orochimaru, good to see you," Ah, this was the 'i-want-to-say-something-but-I'm-stalling-tone' that he is very familiar with, having Jiraiya as a teammate will do that for you. He very patiently turned off the burner and gave a heavy sigh, turning to raise an unimpressed eyebrow at his former teacher.
"What is it, Sensei?" he asked in his usual no-nonsense tone.
"Mhm, that is quite something you're working on," No, he was not falling for this again, the Hokage apparently got the memo as he winced and sat down on one of the many stools scattered around.
"The council wants you to take a genin team,"
He snorted. The last team he took was during the second war, and Nawaki had died under his care. He was supposed to keep him safe-
no, no thinking about it. According to Inoichi, blaming yourself for a comrades death is very unhealthy for a shinobi.
"I'm serious, they say you're becoming more grounded as of lately, and that it's only fit you pass on your skills to the next generation." Orochimaru couldn't believe this, him? In charge of children again? The so called elder council probably wanted more genius sociopaths who'll obey their every whim.
"It is true though, you have changed, I was a little worried about you after the Kyuubi attack... But I'm glad, you seem much happier,"
And he was, because while Biology is a good field to study, he can only do so much, experimenting on plants and animals is great, but to make something useful it needs to be practiced on humans. And there are only so many human experiments Danzo could provide him with. Especially with the war over. Unwanted and unaccounted bodies are hard to find after all.
Making materialistic things to improve everyday life, now that was equally fascinating and much more rewarding. Endless options, fully funded and fully legal research given by the village. No hiding in underground labs. It was much, much better. And the little firecracker and his pet Uchiha were much better company than the emotionless root agents.
Oh.
That was an idea.
"Sensei, I'll take a team."
"I know you don't- what? Really?" there was so much glee and relief in his expression that Orochimaru rolled his eyes. He could just order him to take a team as the Hokage of the village.
"But not now, in a few years, I have an eye on a few academy students."
"Oh?" there was barely concealed curiousness in his voice.
"Yes."
That's all the old man is getting out of him right now. By his sigh, he believed the Sandaime realised that too.